The Prologue speaks of the 69 Greek princes who had sent ships
laden with men and weapons to recapture Helen, wife of Greek
king Menelaus who has run away with Paris, son of Priam the
King of Troy. The action is placed on the Dardan Plains outside
Troy.

In Act I, Scene 1 Troilus, the youngest son of Priam, proclaims
his love for Cressida and laments about the impossibility of
getting to her without going through Pandarus, the go-between.

In Scene 2, Cressida pretends to disdain Troilus. She later reveals
that she has been playing hard to get because she believes a
woman is only really precious when she is being courted and that
a man’s pleasure lies in trying to win her. So, though her heart is
full of love for Troilus, she will not let him know the truth.

In Scene 3, Agamemnon complains to his fellow Greeks that
despite their seven-year siege, Troy’s walls were still standing.
Ulysses launches into his ‘degree’ speech and says that disregard
of order in nature led to plagues, mutinies, earthquakes, and high
winds. Likewise, communities, academic ranks in schools, guilds
and societies, the prerogatives of age, and inheritance could only
be maintained by respecting hierarchy. Anarchy rules in its
absence. So the strength of the Trojans lay in the discord among
the Greeks. Ulysses then paints a vivid picture of Achilles being
entertained by Patroclus’ ridiculous imitations of the Greek
leadership. Nestor adds that others like Ajax had been infected by
this attitude. Aeneas enters and presents Hector’s challenge to a
duel. It is clear that the challenge is aimed at Achilles.

Nestor says that it would be supposed that whoever met Hector
was the choice of the Greek leadership, and whichever warrior
won, it would influence the performance of the whole side.
Ulysses says that it would be appropriate for Achilles not to meet
Hector - should he defeat Hector, he would become even more
intolerable. If, instead, he were defeated, then the reputation of the
whole Greek side would be destroyed because of the disgrace of
their best man. He suggests that they decide by lottery - which
would be fixed so that Ajax drew the lot. Then he would be
acknowledged as the better man, thus deflating Achilles’ pride. If
Ajax returned safely, they’d make much of him: if he failed,
they’d continue to maintain that they had a better man than the
Trojans.

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In the first scene of Act II, Ajax tries to get the gist of the
proclamation from a railing Thersites but to no avail. An
exasperated Ajax beats him and threatens to continue unless he
hears about the proclamation. Achilles and Patroclus enter and tell
Ajax about the proclamation. Achilles says that if it hadn’t been
for the lottery, he himself would be the best match for Hector.

Scene 2 begins with Priam revealing that Nestor had reiterated
that if Helen was delivered to the Greeks, all damages would be
forgotten. Hector suggests that they let Helen go. Troilus
disagrees vehemently. Using the metaphor of marriage, he says
that once a man was committed, he was obliged to stand by his
decision. He reminds them that they had cheered for Paris when in
retaliation for the long-ago kidnapping of an old aunt, he had
brought back a young Grecian queen - an object of supreme worth
whose value had launched more than a thousand ships and turned
kings into merchants. Cassandra enters and exhorts the Trojans to
learn to weep as Troy would burn unless they let Helen go.
Troilus denounces her for a madwoman, and says that the rest of
the Trojans had committed themselves to honoring Helen. They
may, he implies, be proved imprudent by the consequences; but
justice cannot be made merely pragmatic. Paris says he would
wipe off the soil of Helen’s rape by keeping her honorably.